


Fireflies and Slow Dancing Silhouettes

by captain_bucky_writesaswell



Series: Missing Scenes S03 [3]
Category: Queen of the South (TV)
Genre: Background Music, F/M, Just the two of them, Slow Dancing, a pretty evening, string lights, winery opening party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 09:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18028910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_bucky_writesaswell/pseuds/captain_bucky_writesaswell
Summary: { “Come with me?”“Why?” She cocked her head to one side.“You said you wanted to dance.” }Missing Scene set after 304/before 305i.e. at the party for the opening of the winery





	Fireflies and Slow Dancing Silhouettes

**Author's Note:**

> Put “Don’t Keep Driving” by The Paper Kites on whilst reading... you'll know when to press play :)

The night was flowing and so were the drinks, not that Teresa was drinking much anyway. The night was still young for her and she’d intended on continuing to work through the night after all of the guests for the winery’s opening party had gone home.

The hall was all decorated in white lilies and various other cream coloured flowers. Lights were strung across from wall to wall and the tables were all covered in cream tablecloths, pushed away to the sides to create somewhat of a dance floor in the middle of the hall.

Kelly-Anne was at the front door, welcoming their guests and directing them towards the bar. Pote was in the basement, making sure Teresa’s main business wasn’t being disturbed. James was pottering around at the back of the hall, keeping to the sides and staying out of the way. Teresa didn’t want to have a full blown security detail at the event, nothing to make them look overly suspicious. So James took it upon himself to stay as her personal detail from afar, keeping an eye out as well on anyone who looked like they were drinking a little too much of their produce.

It was a few hours into the event, Teresa had found herself dragged onto the dance floor by Kelly-Anne. She’d worn this particular long, dark crimson evening dress to deter herself from dancing too much, as it didn’t leave space for much movement. 

She’d been on the floor for a few minutes when she noticed James out of the corner of her eye. He was leaning against the bar nursing a beer, his all-black suit buttoned up fully. He was watching the crowd before he caught her eyes looking at him. He adjusted himself and gave her a noticeable smile which she returned.

A few minutes later James was still at the bar, looking a little bored and offering disgruntled looks towards all of the couples he kept seeing holding onto each other and kissing on the dance floor. Though, in his observance of everybody else, he hadn’t noticed Teresa’s heels clicking towards him.

He straightened himself up to look more presentable.

“You alright?” He asked as she approached him.

“Yeah, I’m fine” she smiled, then continued as she came to a halt at his toes. “Why don’t you come dance for a minute?”

He raised his eyebrows and over exaggerated a pondering expression, his tongue clicking before he responded - “you know, I’m not really a dancer.”

A little bit of hope in Teresa’s face was lost and he noticed it, tugging on his heartstrings like his world was falling apart. He must have said it a little more seriously than he intended, but she smiled to the ground and gave him a quiet “okay”.

He was surprised that she backed down so easily, didn’t put up a fight to get him onto the floor.

“Enjoy your beer.”

She turned and walked back onto the dance floor and disappeared into the crowd. 

James felt like he’d screwed up, she was offering him a dance and his stupid attempts to always be so slick got in the way of him enjoying some time with her. He took the last gulp of his beer and made his way to the front of house, sticking his head outside to check the car park and have a much needed cigarette.

* * *

Later that evening at about 1am, all of the guests had been ushered away and Teresa had been in her office for about half an hour. She was deep in thought, reading over some documents before she was startled by James striding through her doorway.

“I’m sorry-” he said, feeling that he had interrupted her flow. She was reading something, he couldn’t tell what but it was most likely something relevant to the winery.

“No it’s okay,” she reassured him, placing the document down on the desk. “-what do you need?”

He stood silent for a second.

“Come with me?”

His response puzzled her. He was tired, she could see that. He’d been at the winery all evening with her, keeping an eye out and watching everyone and everything, ever suspicious as always. He was even there a couple of hours before she was, making sure everything was set up correctly.

“Why?” She cocked her head to one side.

“You said you wanted to dance.”

She gives him a confused look, but when he holds out his hand, she obliges.

 

She follows him out of her office and down the steps to the hall of the winery. The lights are mostly off, and she doesn’t quite know what James is going on about. As she manoeuvres herself and her dress in those heels slowly down the steps, James has already finished them and jogged away. When her last heel touched the solid ground, the string lights in the hall came on, lit up like a million fireflies dangling from the walls, lights and ceiling. Her mouth drops open, with the hall full of people earlier she didn’t realise how beautiful it is, how the decorations were silhouetted in the half-light, or how James is steadily walking towards her, gently glowing under the lights.

 

He stops in the middle of the open dance floor, “Don’t Keep Driving” playing softly in the background.

For a few seconds they hold each other’s gaze, each waiting for the other to say or do something.

Teresa feels her palms getting a little clammy, and the fluttering in her stomach getting increasing further up into her chest.

Then James tilts his head slowly and subtly on its axis over to one side, and she relaxes. Seeing the gentleness in him before her, his dark black suited silhouette suddenly not looking so sharp.

She takes a deep breath in and steps forward, subconsciously to the soft beat from the kick drum in the music. As she gets closer and closer, James offers out his left hand, keeping their eyes locked together.

 

They’re a mere two feet away from each other when she takes his hand with her right. He takes half a step forward and gently brings their hands up and spins Teresa around once. She smiles as she comes back around to face him and unexpectedly stumbles into his right side. He places his right hand on her waist as if it were a reflex to stop her from falling, and she catches his eyes looking at hers. She takes careful note of how soft they are, how warm they are. How the glistening from the firefly light illuminates them perfectly. In the meantime her left hand has found its way to his back, holding on to his shoulder.

James begins to sway them both gently side to side, holding each others gaze as they turn in an almost perfect circle, the hem of Teresa’s dress just dusting the floor as it follows behind her.

For now, her heart feels so happy. Happier than it has ever been in the last year or so. She needed this, and hopes that he needed it too. After everything they’ve been through; helping each other, saving each other again and again, getting caught up in words, white lies and confusion before she left for Malta, his return and open wanting to be with her. So they just enjoy this moment, the silence between them as their bodies sway with the music. 

As they get comfortable being this close, Teresa’s head turns to her right and drops to rest against his chest, her heels making her just tall enough to do so. His hand on her waist moves an inch further round to her back, holding her closer. As they continue, James steals occasional glances down to her, watching her with her eyes closed as she rested against him while they move, trusting him to guide them both.

It feels like forever before the song ends, and something in Teresa feels a little broken. The perfect moment suddenly ending.

She sighs and lifts her head back up to face him, her hand moving from his shoulder to his elbow. He notices the change in her face, how she looks a little saddened by the ending of their moment. He relaxes the hold around her waist as he feels her taking a step back, dropping his hand and removing any trace of contact between them.

“I have paperwork to finish” she says reluctantly. She didn’t want to leave, but she didn’t want to rush things between them, or start something which she knew will only end in tears in their business.

James points his chin up to her and gives her a nod, letting her know it’s okay for her to go.

She smiles softly and looked into his eyes one more time, her own feeling a little watery. Then she turns around and walks away from him, lifting the bottom of her dress as she makes her way up the stairs to her office.

James sighs once she’s gone from beside him. He wanted her to stay. He had hoped that maybe tonight, with everything finally perfectly in place in their lives, he might dare to let her know how he feels. He hoped he’d get some signal from her that she felt the same way too, and then he would dare to kiss her. The thought had been on his mind for so long, but the timing was never right. Mostly life or death situations which adding ‘feelings’ in to the mix wouldn’t help at all. But maybe this night was actually the reassurance he needed, that there was indeed something there, a spark. He felt it the moment she walked towards him and took his hand.

He watched as she made her way up to the balcony, her long brown curls quietly bouncing as she took each step in her stride. 

She was at the door to her office when she turned around. Looking over her shoulder she saw him still, standing where she left him. His hands placed into his trouser pockets and his hair a little disheveled like always. In that moment he was perfect.

He gave her a smile, one that warmed her heart, before he backed away slowly and turned, disappearing into the night. A second later the glowing lights turned out, and she smiled to herself, wondering how on Earth she was going to be able to get her paperwork done now.

**Author's Note:**

> *cries in spanish*


End file.
